The High Ground (episode)
Doctor Crusher is captured by terrorists who want the Federation to get involved in their struggle for freedom. Summary The ''Enterprise''-D visits Rutia IV to deliver medical supplies due to recent terrorist attacks by a group called the Ansata. The first away team, consisting of Lt. Worf, Lt. Commander Data, and Dr. Crusher, is witness to a terrorist bombing just outside the Lumar Cafe. Several people are dead and injured. Captain Picard orders the away team back to the ship, but Dr. Crusher insists on staying to treat the injured until medical help arrives. One of the Ansata appear out of nowhere, grabs her, and disappears the same way he arrived. In the Ansata hideout, which is in a subterranean cavern, the leader Kyril Finn offers Dr. Crusher food, as she is now his hostage. She ignores him, and does not respond at all. Eventually, this bothers him to the point where he explains to her why he kidnapped her. The method of transport they use, a dimensional shifter, or as they called it "the inverter", is causing a breakdown in the DNA of anyone who uses it. It's untreatable, and the only safe cure is to stop using it. Dr. Crusher does all she can to help their injured. Meanwhile, the Rutian police explain to Commander Riker that the Ansata are ruthless murders, and that they once destroyed a shuttle bus of 60 school children. She also explains their motivation, which is to seek independence from the Western continent. Their fighting started 70 years prior, and now they only fight because they've been doing it for so long. Aboard the Enterprise, Wesley Crusher, Data, and Lt. La Forge have found out how they're transporting undetected, and believe they have a way to trace them. Suddenly, Ansata operatives begin appearing all over the ship, including the bridge. They set an explosive on the warp core, intending to destroy the ship, but La Forge is able to beam it into space before it can do damage. Operatives appear on the bridge, shoot Lt. Worf, and take Captain Picard hostage as well, disappearing just as fast as they appeared. Kyril Finn shifts aboard, and tells Counselor Troi that he wants a negotiation with the Rutian government, arbitrated by a Federation mediator. He leaves, but they've now been able to locate the source of the dimensional shift inverter. A team of Enterprise and Rutian personnel beam into the cavern and disable power to the lighting systems. Finn prepares to kill Picard, but Alexana Devos kills him first. Riker tells her she didn't have to kill him, but she only responds that with a martyr, violence may go down for a little while. Then a young boy in the Ansata aims a phaser rifle at Alexana, but Dr. Crusher tells him the killing has to end, and he surrenders. Back aboard the ship, Dr. Crusher is reunited with Wesley, and they leave orbit. Memorable Quotes "In a world where children blow up children, everyone's a threat." : - Alexana "This is a war for independence, and I am no better or different than your own George Washington." "Washington was a military general, not a terrorist." : - Finn and Dr. Crusher "History has shown us that strengt may be useless when faced with terrorism." : - Jean-Luc Picard Background Information *This episode was cut from first-run transmission in the UK due to references to the reunification of Ireland through terrorism. To date, it has not aired on the BBC. It has, however, been aired several times on satellite and cable television. *On the video surveillance monitors in Alexana's office, several slightly modified images of Earth cities can be made out. The most prominent is an image of the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York. Links and References Guest Stars *Kerrie Keane as Alexana *Richard Cox as Kyril Finn *Marc Buckland as Katik Shaw *Fred G. Smith as a Policeman *Christopher Pettiet as a Boy References Ansata; Eastern continent of Rutia IV; Elway; Elway Theorem; folded-space transport; folded-space transporter; inverter; Ireland; Kenzie Rebellion; Lumar Cafe; magnetosphere faint echogram; Mexico; Alfonse Pacelli; Rutia IV; Rutian; Shuttlebus; Spain; Stockholm Syndrome; subspace field coil; terrorism; George Washington High Ground, The de:Terror auf Rutia IV nl:The High Ground